Chapter 8 Taji Sloane
TAJI SLOANE
It was two days later and my body was still throbbing from what Trucker had done to me. It wasn’t like I didn’t want it—I wanted more.
There wasn’t a chance in hell of that happening.
He was in Albright to work and sticking my vagina in the middle of that didn’t feel like such a good idea.
And besides, a man like him—
I sighed loudly and stomped a foot.
It didn’t make me feel better.
Now, I had no way of cooling my body down so I could concentrate on my latest commission.
Two cold showers hadn’t helped.
Buying a small bottle of whiskey and hiding it under my bed had done nothing to take my mind off things.
Praying did nothing to turn me away from my carnal cravings.
He didn’t make it easy on me, especially after seeing him shirtless, in the rain, his eyes closed with his face upturned to the raindrops. It was a sight that held me paralyzed, just staring.
How could a man be so beautiful?
Watching the clear water slid over toned muscles did something to me.
As I watched him, I could still feel his fingers in my hair, against my nipples, rough against my thighs.
Then his mouth. I could still taste his kiss—and forget the shrimp scampi.
The truth was, Trucker was the most delicious thing I ever had in my mouth.
Damn, what’s wrong with me?
I took a break to touch myself in the shower—I climaxed so hard, I slipped and fell to one knee. In pain, I managed to turn off the water and wrapped a towel round me enough to waddle into my bedroom.
For a few minutes, I sat, naked on the side of my bed massaging my knee and grunting because of the pain. Deep down, I knew I couldn’t stay like that forever, I couldn’t keep hiding.
Gingerly, I managed to get dressed.
I knew I would have to spend the day with it elevated and though it took me some doing and time, I managed to carry my laptop into my bedroom, along with some snacks and relegated myself to bed.
That was where I was when Trucker called my name from somewhere in the house. Gritting my teeth, I climbed out of bed and hopped on one leg to the railing.
“Up here.” I called from the balcony. “How was your day?”
He made an appearance below me, looking up with the most beautiful brown eyes I’d ever seen.
“Good—you okay?”
“Define okay.”
Trucker arched a brow before jogging up the stairs. When he was standing beside me, I sighed and gave in.
“I fell in the shower.” I explained. “It’s no big deal. I’m sure by tomorrow the swelling will be gone.”
“Swelling?” Trucker was already checking my body. “Where? Let me see.”
I could fight him but why bother?
I’d just let him win anyway.
Men like him were all the same and wouldn’t stop until they saw what the problem was and fixed it. I rolled my eyes dramatically while pointing to my knee that was the size of a small mango.
Trucker eyed the wound and made a face.
“This is what you’re not worried about?” He asked.
Before I could find an answer, Trucker scooped me into his arms and carried me back to bed. It didn’t even occur to me to protest. Instead, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and allowed him to take care of me.
Once he had me on the bed, he inspected my knee again and frowned.
“What were you doing in the shower, anyway?” He wanted to know. “You really need to be careful.”
“I don’t need a lecture.” I pouted. “It’s not like I did it on purpose. In a way, it kind of is your fault. If it hadn’t been for you kissing me like you did—”
“Go on.”
“No.” I turned my face away. “It’s like I can’t stop myself from saying these things around you. And you don’t have to take care of me. I know your day couldn’t have been easy.”
“Don’t worry about me.” Trucker told me. “Keep that leg elevated. I’m going to take a shower then make you some dinner. How about that?”
I nodded.
“Um—Trucker?”
He paused at the door.
“Thanks.”
Trucker walked back to the bed, leaned forward and kissed me deeply.
He still smelled like every good thing I wanted to eat.
I still couldn’t explain it.
I gripped his arm for another kiss when he tried walking away then melted back into the pillows.
When I was alone, I touched my kiss swollen lips, wondering what he would say if I told him what I really wanted from him?
The kiss wasn’t enough, and it frustrated me that I was so awkward in just telling him I wanted him to make love to me.
Swearing under my breath, I shifted to get my leg a little higher on the pile of pillows and licked my tingling lips.
It was moments like these I wished I had friends, people I could talk this out with. I wasn’t sure what I was feeling—I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing that I wanted to let him do all kinds of taboo things to me.
Thankfully, the next morning, my knee was fine. Before going to sleep, Trucker had gone out for ointment and after putting ice on it, he massaged some of the cream on my knee.
Well, it wasn’t one hundred percent fine.
But a little soreness was nothing compared to how bad it could have been. I showered before Trucker returned from his run and busied myself with making him breakfast.
“Should you be on your feet right now?” He asked from behind me.
“I’m fine.” I told him, turning to hand him a cup of cold orange juice. “It’s a little sore but it doesn’t bother me to put weight on it. Go shower.”
“Okay—Taji.”
“Hmm?” I scooped some scrambled eggs onto a plate. “What’s up?”
“Look at me.”
Arching a brow, I turned again to look at him.
“We’re going to talk about it,” he said.
“It?”
Then I realized what he meant, and my cheeks heated.
“We don’t have to.” I straightened my spine, forcing myself to meet his eyes. “These things happen.”
“Not to me.” He shrugged. “I want to talk about it because there is something happening here. I want to know what it is.”
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I nodded.
“Okay, but for right now, you have to shower and eat, or you’ll be late.”
“I won’t be—”
Trucker looked at his watch before swearing under his breath.
He was reluctant—I could tell by the way his wide shoulders rose and fell as he nodded and turned from the room. For a moment, I watched him until he disappeared up the stairs. Only then, did my spine weakened and I hunched forward.
We got through breakfast and though I wanted a kiss, I settled for a smile and waved as he pulled from the yard.
Forcing myself, I managed to finish the first draft of my latest project and sent it off to the company for approval. That would take at least two weeks since they had to run it by their PR department and executives.
Working with businesses of that size was slow as molasses because everyone wanted to cover their asses by going through company mandated policies.
All that bullshit red tape tended to slow things down tremendously.
While they figured that out, I checked the fridge and cupboards, made a list of everything we were out and headed into town to stock up.
My first stop was the hardware store to pick up a couple lightbulbs. The one on the front porch was on the fritz and usually that meant it was burning out.
But I couldn’t see how—it was barely a month old.
Then again, I remembered what my grandfather would say each time something broke.
They don’t make these things like they used to.
Most of his sayings were beginning to make sense to me as I grew older.
I chuckled, shook my head and picked up an extra box being careful to read the label before setting it carefully into my shopping cart.
By the time I made my way to the grocery store, I was feeling somewhat better.
My knee wasn’t hurting like before and the swelling had gone back down. Though my back was a little sore, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
I was even humming to myself as I moved up and down the aisles. In the female products aisle, I almost ran over Esther. She caught me in the shoulder with a palm shoving me backward.
I knocked off a few packs of feminine wipes.
“Pick those up.” She ordered.
I glared at her, ignoring the pain in my elbow.
“I don’t work here.” I lifted my chin. “Thank you.”
Wanting to just get on with my day, I wheeled my cart around her to stop in front of the brand of pads I usually bought. I wasn’t completely out, but I was dangerously low on my supply.
Plus, they were on sale.
“You deaf?” She demanded.
I picked up a pack and read the instructions on the back. It said the same thing it always had, but I supposed that was a habit.
I tossed it into the cart and was reaching for another when a pack with more in it caught my attention. Removing the first one from my cart, I took down two of the bigger ones and dropped them into my cart.
Esther pushed me again and I whirled around to knee her in the gut.
Esther’s eyes widened as she slipped to her knees, clutching her stomach. I wasn’t a fighter—not by any stretch of the word. But I was frustrated with the way my life had gone, irritated with people in this backward town and hornier than I’d ever been.
My hold on my temper had frayed to breaking and I was just done.
To make matters worse, I was sick of Esther and her shit.
I didn’t run.
In high school I would hide in the bathroom on the top floor that no one really used. I would most times eat there crying into my dry ham sandwich.
It was like I spent my entire high school cowering in some dark corner.
Being as invisible as I could be.
But that was the old me.
If she thought I was going to buckle under her crap like I would have in high school, she had another thing coming.
If this bitch wanted a fucking fight, game on, sister.
I followed up with a punch to the nose, wanting to put my entire back behind the strike.
She shrieked.
It made me happy as my knuckles impacted her face.
Even though I wanted to make her hurt, I pulled my punch—slightly—so I didn’t break it her nose.
But that was the only grace she’d be getting from me.
“Put your hands on me again!” I slapped her across the face. “Go on. I fucking dare you! Go ahead! You wanted a fight? I’ll fight you. Right here!”
“You hit me!” Esther screeched.